Circular knitting machine



Feb. 1, 1938. H. H. HOLMES CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed Feb; 28, 19232 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 1, 1938. H. H. HOLMES 2,106,872

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 28, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Henry Harold Holmes,Leicester, England, as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to H. Brinton Co., Philadelphia, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania' Application February 28, 1928, Serial N0.257,620 In Great Britain April 1, 1927 8 Claims. (CI. 66-24) Thisinvention consists in improvements in or wise direction of the member,from a transverse relating to circular knitting machines of theshouldered portion. type comprising a set of cylinder needles and a Thedial has associated with it a cam mechaset of dial needles. An object ofthe present innism. which, when a loop is to be transferred vention isto provide means whereby, after the from the dial needle to a cylinderneedle, pro- 5 dial and cylinder needles have been employed in jects thetransfer-point to enter and engage the conjunction to produce a ribbedfabric, the stitchloop, then moves back the needle to enable the es canbe transferred from the dial to the cylloop to be pressed oflf therefromand to be reinder needles so that plain knitting can be contalned by thetransfer-point and subsequently l0 ti d on th same machine, after acylinder needle has been raised into the The invention accordinglycomprises the comloop which is held by the transfer-point, retractsbination with a dial needle of standard type of the latter. aloop-transfer point which is carried in the dial One form of dialmechanism comp a discto slide alongside the needle in a path substanlikecover pl extending ov r the p of the dial tially parallel with that inwhich the needle and formed, a 1701175 u d a w tw 15 moves. Convenientlthe needle and transfer tracks, one for the needle butts and the otherfor point are slidingly mounted in the same trick, the butts of thetransfer-points. In each track The invention is limited to the use ofdial needles there is a ble cam 01 Cams to enable the of standard type,that is to say, to needles that necessary timed movements to be imparted130 are standard articles for use in knitting mathe l needles a d s -P s0 chines and are thus common articles of comone Preferred example f t een o Will merce at the present time. One such standard w be des bed indetail with the aid of the actype of needle is the latch needle shown inthe compenying draw in h accompanying drawings. The invention is notFigure 1 s deVelOped ew Of the te or o concerned with needles of specialformation dife cam-b0! o the needle cy d 5 fering from those which arenow regarded as Figure 2 is all Under-side P View Of the dial the saidstandard needles of commerce. C Plate w e s in t e ont A feature of theinvention consists in the em- Position; ployment of a latch needle in.conjunction with Figure 3 is a w similar to F u 2 showing atransfer-point in the manner above referred to. the Cams in e knittingPosition; 3

In one example of the invention the tricks in Figure 4 s a V ew similarto Figure 2 showin the dial are of such width that in addition to thethe m in h transfer p ion; usual dial latch needle a transfer-point canalso Figure 5 s 8- 01) plan View of the cam Plate slide with a needle ineach trick. The dial needles showing the striking and locking levels;are formed with upwardly-projecting butts and Figure 5a is a on O the le 5 1 0f 35 the transfer-points are in the form of flat strips Figure 5showing y relative Positions of the also having upwardly-extending buttdial and cylinder needles and an associated trans- Each transfer-pointmay be formed with a bifer-Point; furcated outer extremity whereof thebifurca- Figure 6 is an under'side plan'view of the dial 40 tions are soformed that they will both lie in a cam Plate with the cams remWed? 40Figures 7a, 8a, and 9a show details, in plan, of certain of the cams;

Figures 7b, 8b and 9b show views looking from the right respectively ofFigures 7a, 8a and 9a,

plane that is substantially radial with respect to the needle cylinder,and the lower one is slightly downturned and is intended to enter theloop or stitch on the associated dial needle. The extremity of thetransfer-point is conveniently so g 10 and 10b are perspective views fcurved as to afford a channel into which an aptwo difl-erent forms ftransfeppoima propriate cylinder needle can pass freely when it Like rference numerals i t lik parts i is m0vedas will be explained more fullyherethe several figures of t d i lnafter-into the stitch that has beentransferred In the example illustrated, the number of 50 from a dial ndl t t t -p tneedles in the cylinder is double that of the Preferably,the transfer-point is in the form of needles in the dial In order toenable. ribbed a strip-like member capable of sliding in a trick fabricto be knitted, alternate short and long in the dial and having at itsouter end a pointed cylinder needles are employed, as indicatedreextension, that projects outwardly in the length spectively at I! andII in Figure 1. The long 55 needles are double-butt needles and when itis desired to produce ribbed knitting, a push-in cam I2 is moved asshown, into the path of the lower butts and takes the needles Ii downinto the non-knitting position. In this position the upper butts of thelong needles travel in the idle track l3 below the usual stitch andother control cams and remain inoperative. Another push-in cam i3 willbe held outwardly while the needles II are to remain inoperative, andwhen the cam I3 is thus held outwardly it does not engage the upperbutts of the needles II. To return the latter to the knitting position,the cam i2 is removed from the path of the lower butts and the cam I3 ismoved inwardly to the position shown 7 in Figure 1 thereby engaging theupper butts, and with the aid. of the lifting cm I! the needles II areraised to the height of the knitting track i6.

When the needles Ii are in their inoperative position, their places willbe taken by dial needies in a manner well understood, so that a 1:1 ribcan be produced. When a change is to be made from ribbed to plainknitting, the cylinder needles are allraised by the cam M in the mannerjust described and the dial cam mechanism will operate on the dialneedles and transferpoints, in succession behind the yarn feed, in themanner to be described hereinafter.

For the complete understanding of the operation of the dial needles,transfer-points and dial cam mechanism, reference is now made to Figures2 to 10.

In each needle trick in the dial there is a dial needle 23 (Figures 3,4, and 5a) and a transfer-point 2i (Figure 101: or 10b). As seen inFigure 5a the butts 22 of the needles are higher than the butts 23 ofthe transfer-points. The latter are in the form of strip-like members.The outer ends may be bifurcated, as shown in Figure 10b, to affordprojections 23 and 23, or, as shown in Figure 10a, the projection 23 maybe replaced by a shoulder 23. The point of projection 23 is intended toenter and hold a stitch already formed on its associated dial needlewhen it is desired to transfer that stitch to a cylinder needle; and inorder to permit the ready passage of the cylinder needle through thestitch so held on the transfer-point, the extremity of the latter isbent as shown to afford a groove or channel 21 into which the needle canpass and thus enter centrally through the stitch.

Referring now to Figures 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that the dialmechanism includes fixed cams 33, 3|, 32, 33, 33, 33 and 33, which,together with a slide cam 31 and a swing cam 33 aiford a needle track 33in which the butts of the dial needles are received. There is also acentral fixed cam and a swing\cam 3i. Between the cams 30 and 3i and thesurrounding cams 32 and 33 a 1 track 32 is provided for the butts of thetransferpoints.

When the slide and swing cams 31 and 38 are in the position shown inFigure 2, the needle butts are guided by the cam surfaces I31 and I33respectively so that at no position in their passage around the traek 33are they moved outwardly to take the yarn. The transfer-points areguided in the track 32 so that they also are not projected outwardly atall; the swing cam 3| being in the inward position illustrated in Figure2. Thus, the dial needles and transferpoints are inoperative, and theyare maintained in this condition during the time that plain knitting isbeing eifected on the cylinder needles. When the dial needles arerequired to knit, that is. when the cylinder needles ii are maintainedinoperative, the swing cam 33 is moved outwardly to the outermostposition shown in Figure 3. The other movable cams 31 and 3i remain,however, in the position already described with reference to Figure 2.The needle butts are now guided by the cam surface 233, and the needlesare consequently projected outwardly sumeiently to clear the stitchalready made and to take the yarn. After the needle butts leave the camsurface 233, they are engaged by the stitch cam 30, and the stitch iscompleted by this cam. The direction of relative rotation between thedial cam plate and the needles is indicated by the arrow 23 in Figure 2.

It will be appreciated that the transfer-points, during the time thatthe dial needles are knitting, are still maintained inoperative.Generally, the cylinder and dial needles will commence to be operativetogether to knit a length of ribbed fabric at the top, for instance, ofa hose or halfhose, for which purpose the dial cam mechanism will havethe movable cams adjusted to the radial slide-bar 33. A stud 231connects the cam 31 with the slide-bar 33, and another stud |3l connectsthe cam 3i with the slide-bar 33 in such a manner that the cam can beswung inwardly and outwardly by a correspondingradial move- -ment of theslide-bar 33.

with the cams in the position illustrated in Figure 4, it will be seenthat the needles, after leaving the stitch cam 33, travel round thetrack 33 until they engage the cam surface 331 of the cam 31. They areled by that surface to the cam surface I33 of the cam 33 and by thismeans the dial needles'are projected outwardly sufiiciently to clear thestitches, already formed on them. behind the latches of the needles.Following this, the needles travel down the reverse surface of the cam33 and between that reverse surface and a fixed cam 33 so that theneedles are drawn rapidly inwards. Simultaneously, however, thetransfer-points are projected outwardly by engagement of their buttswith the swing cam 3i, and as the needles are drawn inwardly, theextremities 23 of the transfer-points enter the loops of the stitches insuccession and retain those loops. The transfer-points are movedoutwardly to the maximum extent by the cam 3| and at their outermostposition, substantially that illustrated in Figure 4, the cylinderneedles Ii, in

succession, are raised upwardly so as to enter the stitches held by thetransfer-points, the channels 21 on the transfer-points facilitating theentry of the cylinder needles into the stitches.

' When the stitches have been transferred on to area-e72 the cam II willbe held out from the path 01' the lower butts or the needles II.

It will be understood that, although an example of the invention hasbeen described for the purpose of knitting a 1:1 ribbed-fabric, anydesired form of rib can be produced by the proper arrangement of longand short needles in the needle cylinder and corresponding needles inthe dial, such arrangements of needles being well understood.

The mechanism by which the movable cams in the dial are moved outwardlyand held in the positions of outward adjustment is shown in Figure 5.Associated with the swing cam 38 is a striking plate 10 pivotallymounted on the stud H. A stud 12 which is fast in the swing cam 38,extends through a slot 13 in the cover plate 60 and. also into a slot 14in the striking plate 10. A spring 15 pressing on the stud I2 normallytends to hold the swing cam 38 in its inward position. The swing cam 3!is moved outwardly, however, by engagement with the tail end of thestriking plate ID (that is, the end on the right of the stud H as seenin Figure 5), and this may be effected by any preferred means such as aprojection which is moved into the path of the striking plate ill atrequired times by a pattern chain or other controlling mechanism.

In order to hold the striking plate and the swing cam 38 in theoutermost position, a locking lever or plate 75 plvotally mounted on astud i1 is employed. The locking plate 18 is formed with a shoulder 18which passes under and engages with the nose of the striking plate towhen it has been moved outwardly in the manner abovedescribed, and soholds the striking plate in the position indicated. A spring 19 normallytends to press the shoulder it towards the striking plate at all times,and the latter snaps past the corner of the shoulder it into position.In order to release the striking plate so as to return it and the swingcam to the inward position, another projection can be moved into thepath of the outer end of the locking plate 58 so as plvotally to move iton the stud W as will be readily understood from the drawings.

on the stud TI is a second locking plate Mi which presents a shoulder 8|to hold the nose of the striking plate ill at an intermediate posh tionbetween the outermost and innermost positions. A spring 82 performs asimilar function with respect to the locking plate as does the spring 59with respect to the locking plate it. In this position the swing cam 38is held so that the movement oi. the dial needles effected by the cam 38is such as to form tuck stitches. When the tail end of the locking platehas been moved to free its shoulder l8 irom the nose of the strikingplate W, the latter will move inwardly and will be caught by theshoulder M to hold the striking plate at the intermediate position.Similarly, the tail end of the locking plate 80 when it is required tofree its shoulder 81 from the nose of the striking plate can also beswung aside. Any preferred mechanism such as is well understood in theart may be employed for displacin the locking plates 16 and 80 todisengage them from the nose of the striking plate I0.

For the slide 43 there is also a striking plate 83 plvotally mounted ona stud 84, and a locking plate 85 having a shoulder 86 to engage thenose of the striking plate 83. Springs 81 and 88 serve to control themovements of the striking plate and locking plate in the same mannerthat the springs 15 and I! control the striking and locking platesrespectively for the swing cam 38.

In Figure 4, the butts only of the dial needles and transfer-points areshown in the various positions around their respective tracks, and thesebutts have been designated with the same reference numerals as have beenemployed for the actual needles and transfer-points shown in full.

By means of the present invention an inturned welt can be formed for thetops of hose. To form such a welt with the aid of the mechanism justdescribed, the following knitting process is employedz-First, two ormore courses of ribbed knitting are produced with the aid of the dialand cylinder needles. The dial needles are then retracted to theinoperative position whilst still retaining their loops.- A number ofcourses of plain knitting are then produced using all the cylinderneedles for which purpose the needles, such as H, previously heldinoperative during the knitting of the ribbed courses, are movedupwardly into position with the aid of the cam ll. When the requiredlength of plain knitting has been produced sumcient for the welt, thelatter is completed by transferring the loops from the dial needles tothe corresponding cylinder needles with the aid of the transfer-pointsin the manner Just described above with reference to Figure 4. Thus,needles to which the loops have been transferred will have two loops onthem, and these two loops will be knitted together in the next course ofplain knitting.

The invention also includes hose, half-hose and other fabrics knitted onthe machine or with the aid of the dial transfer mechanismabovedescribed and by the methods set forth. In the cam-box for theneedle cylinder, the usual heeland-toe stitch cam mechanism, indicatedgenerally by the reference numeral 50, will be provided when it isrequired to knit hose and half-hose, but it will be appreciated that theinvention can be applied to any type of circular knitting machine. Inthe example illustrated, it is intended that the'cylinder cam-box andthe dial cam plate shall be rotated while the needle cylinder and thedial needle bed 60 remain stationary. In a manner well understood,however, this can be reversed and the cylinder and dial beds can revolvewhile the cam-boxes remain stationary.

The extremities of the transfer-points such as 25, are preferablyslightly downtumed as illustrated, as in this form they are found toenter the loops more freely because the extreme point will be somewhatbelow the level of that surface of the dial needle on, which the loop,at the time of transfer, is retained.

I claim:-

1. For a circular knitting machine, the combination of aneedle-cylinder, needles therein, a needle-dial, needles of standardtype in said dial, loop-transfer points each associated with a dialneedle and slidable in said dial alongside and independently of itsneedle in a path substantially parallel with that of the needle, a camto move the transfer points to engage loops on the dial needles, a dialneedle clearing cam to clear loops on the dial needles, a withdrawal camfor the dial needle-dial, needles of standard type in said dial,

needles of standard type in said tricks, loop tr fer points eachslidlngly disposed in the same trick with and alongside a needle towhich it is allocated but movable independently of said needle, a cam tomove the transfer points to engage loops on the dial needles, adial-needle clearing cam to clear loops on the dial needles, awithdrawal cam for the dial needles to move them to yield their clearedloops to the transfer points, and a cam to raise the cylinder needles toreceive loops from the transfer points.

3. For a circular knitting machine, the combination of aneedle-cylinder, needles therein, a needle dial, needles of standardtype therein, and loop transfer points each of which is associated withand is slidable alongside but independently of an associated dial needleand has a loop-engaging extremity that is formed to pick up a loop froma dial needle and has a portion oifsetin a plane transverse to the axisof the needlecylinder to afford a channel into which a cylinderneedlecan freely pass in order to'enter a loop held by the transfer point.

4. For a circular knitting machine, a needledial, needles in said dial,transfer points one for each needle, each such transfer point beingslidable alongside and independently of its needle and tricks formed inthe dial of sufficient width to accommodate both a needle and itsassociated transfer point.

5. For a circular knitting machine, the combination of aneedle-cylinder, needles therein, a needle-dial, needles of standardtype in said dial, loop-transfer points each associated with, andslidable alongside a dial needle to which it is allocated, and dial cammechanism comprising a cam surface acting vto project a transfer-pointoutwardly to enter a loop on its associated dial needle, a second camsurface operable to move said associated dial needle inwardly to leavethe loop on the transfer point, and a further cam surface operable onthe transfer-point subsequently to withdraw it in order to cast oil! theloop held thereby on to a cylinder needle.

6. For a circular knitting machine, the combi-' nation of aneedle-cylinder, needles therein, a

slidable alongside a needle to which it is allocated,

butts on the needles. and transfer-points, and

dial cam mechanism comprising two tracks, one for the needle butts andone for the butts of the transfer-points, a cam surface associated withthe transfer-point track to project the transferpoints outwardly toenter loops on their associated dial-needles, and in the needle track acam surface operable to move the dial-needles inwardly so as to leavetheir loops on the associated transfer points, and a third cam surfacefor the transfer-point track and operable on the transfer pointssubmquently to withdraw them to cast oi! their loops on to cylinderneedles.

7. For a circular hitting machine, the combination of a needle cylinder.a needle dial, needles of a standard type in said dial, and looptransferpoints each with and slidable alongside a needle to which it isallocated, and dial cam mechanism comprising tracks for dial needles andtransfer-points, movable cam surfaces constituting portions of bothtracks, and a single movable member operatively connected to bothmovable portions so that they are actuated in company to project theirassociated needles and transfer-points respectively for a transferoperation.

8. In the operation of a circular knitting ma-.

chine having a needle cylinder with needles therein, a needle dial withneedles and transfer-points therein having the transferpoints eachassociated with and slidable alongside the dial needle to which it isallocated, and dial cam mechanism for actuating the dial needles andtransfer-points, the steps of knitting an inturned welt which compriseoperating the dial and cylinder needles to form a plurality of coursesof ribbed knitting, retracting and discontinuing the operation of thedial needles with loops retained thereon while operating all thecylinder needles to produce the required length of plain knitting, thenoperating the transfer-points to transfer the loops from the dialneedles to corresponding cylinder needles, and continuing the operationof the cylinder needles to produce plain knitting.

' HENRY HAROLD HOLMES.

